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Organisational Transformation: Is There A Need?

By
Dr. Dayana N. H. Chaskar

Profound, permanent change in an organisation

requires an integrated organisational transformation
approach from the grass-roots that is able to remodel a
company’s social systems.
A research by King and Peterson in 2007 (How effective

I
leaders achieve success in critical change initiatives, Part 2: why
n recent months, Malaysia has witnessed change leadership must transcend project management for complex
many ministries, government agencies and initiatives to be successful) concisely explains that 80%
Government Linked Companies (GLCs) of organisations achieve substantially less value than
transforming or being re-structured after the coalition the expected value. Two main reasons are because of
Pakatan Harapan’s government came into power. leaders not managing well the Process of Change and
leaders failing to manage the People side of Change.
As famously quoted by Winston Churchill “There is
nothing wrong in change, if it is in the right direction.”
It is commonly said that people resist change. However
from my personal point of view, people do not resist
change, they resist being changed. Most people have
outright fear to change thus impeding and failing
to perceive the effectiveness of transformation. It
must be emphasised that our GLCs have remarkably
managed to strike a subtle balance between fulfilling
their scope in helping the rakyat and simultaneously
being sustainable. Our GLCs and government
agencies have an important role to play by shaping the
economy and assisting the rakyat in specific identified
areas as cited by Datuk Mohd Radzif Mohd Yunus,
dubbed the ‘Transformation Man’ in his 2017 NST
article entitled The way to transform organisations.
There is no fast rule of thumb which would be
Unfortunately, fear and resistance to change is appropriate for all transformation process. Each
thriving well in many organisations be in locally or organisation has its own novelty and structure. Thus
globally. Globally now we have embarked into the 4th each company transformation approach should be
Industrial Revolution, applying digital technologies customised depending on their objectives, directive,
make manufacturing more agile, flexible and competences, capacity and the targeted outcome. The
responsive to customers. Yet, history has proved fundamental of any change exercise is for the leaders
that in order for organisations to survive in today’s to accurately understand the organisation and what
competitive landscape, only those who are effectively outcomes are projected by the transformation. And the
prepared for their change initiatives and have gained bottom-line is the human side of the transformation
staff commitment to embrace change, shall succeed. journey.

10 10 Humanotorial ISSUE 7
APRIL 2019
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Overall, organisational transformation is about

balancing between processes being reengineered and
costs being reorganized. The desired outcome must be
in line with the company’s directive and sustainability.
Organisational transformation must only focus on
inserting maximum added value to the company.
The implementation process requires that every
staff understands the exact way in which his or her
contribution is critical to achieving the overall vision.

For a deep good and significant transformation,

it is imperative to reach down to the grass-roots and
meet as many staff members in the organisation. The
simplest technique would be to have an honest and
open communication with them, easily achieved by
performing a ‘gemba walk’. This popular management
method is a Japanese term applied by visiting the actual
work place/station/office, to gain valuable insights
into the flow of value through the organisation which
can often uncover opportunities for improvement
and learn new ways to support staff. The exercise is a
collaborative, with staff providing details on the current
issues and challenges. Engaging stakeholders provides
key information on a workable transformation plan.

So, yes organisational transformation is crucial

for every organisation!

ISSUE 7
APRIL 2019 Humanotorial 11 11